November 23, 2016 at 4:37 p.m.
Habegger repurposes lumber
By Kaytee Lorentzen-
Creating new from the old, deteriorating, and seemingly unwanted pieces of wood is what Mike Habegger, a second-generation owner for ACE Lumber in Berne, made a business from.
Legacy Lumber was created in January in response to the growing popularity of salvaged wood and a man who saw an opportunity to help the community around him by taking wood from these unused barns and using it for other projects.
“I saw those barns and I saw the beautiful story in the barn and I also saw that the material that was harvested from the virgin timberland that my great-great grand father saw when he came from the old country. And I thought that wood was too special to not be used for something,” said Habegger.
The circumstances were all right for Legacy Lumber. The rural area offers lots of barns that wood could be recycled from. The ACE warehouse was being under-utilized. Habegger had trucks to haul the wood. And the Amish craftsman in the area have the skills to help with the labor.
“I have seen the emergence of popularity of reclaimed wood. Wood that might be destined to rot away or to be destroyed, and to be able to take that wood and repurpose that into something useful, I saw the stars kind of lined up in my industry,” said Habegger.
At first, they would go to a homeowner who they knew was not using the barn, and present them with the idea of taking the barns off their hands instead of the homeowners burning it or demolishing it and instead use their wood for this project. Soon after word got out about Legacy Lumber, they had to abandon that model. Many people were calling Habegger asking him to take their barn wood instead.
Once they get to the job site, they remove the items that they can use including flooring, siding and the beams.
Legacy Lumber was created in January in response to the growing popularity of salvaged wood and a man who saw an opportunity to help the community around him by taking wood from these unused barns and using it for other projects.
“I saw those barns and I saw the beautiful story in the barn and I also saw that the material that was harvested from the virgin timberland that my great-great grand father saw when he came from the old country. And I thought that wood was too special to not be used for something,” said Habegger.
The circumstances were all right for Legacy Lumber. The rural area offers lots of barns that wood could be recycled from. The ACE warehouse was being under-utilized. Habegger had trucks to haul the wood. And the Amish craftsman in the area have the skills to help with the labor.
“I have seen the emergence of popularity of reclaimed wood. Wood that might be destined to rot away or to be destroyed, and to be able to take that wood and repurpose that into something useful, I saw the stars kind of lined up in my industry,” said Habegger.
At first, they would go to a homeowner who they knew was not using the barn, and present them with the idea of taking the barns off their hands instead of the homeowners burning it or demolishing it and instead use their wood for this project. Soon after word got out about Legacy Lumber, they had to abandon that model. Many people were calling Habegger asking him to take their barn wood instead.
Once they get to the job site, they remove the items that they can use including flooring, siding and the beams.
An Amish crew will go in and deconstruct the barn and put it all the salvaged wood into a pile at the site where they will have another crew come in and bring it to the warehouse. Once at the warehouse, on a rainy day, they will go through the salvaged wood and pull out any nails and clean off the dirt. Once cleaned and free of nails, they stack the wood to air dry. The wood then becomes inventory for the store.
No project is too small or too big to get wood from Legacy Lumber. Habegger has been able to help a hiking outfitter in Michigan cover their walls in reclaimed wood and to provide lumber for a family to build a small, backyard barn.
Habegger noticed that the popularity of salvaged wood was leading some companies to sell products that look like they were salvaged, but were not. He believes nothing can compare to the real thing.
“When you buy the real thing it’s incredibly neat on how it looks. Because it’s old world harvested timber. It’s got many neat marks in it; it may have a nail hole in it. It may have a bug trail in it; it might have a loose knot. It may have a hole where a piece of hardware was bolted to it. And we make those floors, those unique characteristics stay in the floor, that’s what makes it beautiful,” said Habegger.
Each barn has multiple pieces of wood bringing it together and when broken down into each piece, the wood’s story can be spread out to many parts of the country. An old barn can be turned into so many different things from furniture to being walls for a new barn. Legacy Lumber has helped that transition to allow the stories to travel to new homes and new projects.
No project is too small or too big to get wood from Legacy Lumber. Habegger has been able to help a hiking outfitter in Michigan cover their walls in reclaimed wood and to provide lumber for a family to build a small, backyard barn.
Habegger noticed that the popularity of salvaged wood was leading some companies to sell products that look like they were salvaged, but were not. He believes nothing can compare to the real thing.
“When you buy the real thing it’s incredibly neat on how it looks. Because it’s old world harvested timber. It’s got many neat marks in it; it may have a nail hole in it. It may have a bug trail in it; it might have a loose knot. It may have a hole where a piece of hardware was bolted to it. And we make those floors, those unique characteristics stay in the floor, that’s what makes it beautiful,” said Habegger.
Each barn has multiple pieces of wood bringing it together and when broken down into each piece, the wood’s story can be spread out to many parts of the country. An old barn can be turned into so many different things from furniture to being walls for a new barn. Legacy Lumber has helped that transition to allow the stories to travel to new homes and new projects.
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